Two Foreign Companies form Mundo Fox to compete with Univision and Telemundo. Music sale sup 8% thanks to world market. Modern Family tops in Product Plaement. Superbowl is regional Northeast contest.

Caliente!Columbia TV Network and England based Newscorp aid to launch #1 rated Spanish Laguage Network in America. News Corp. announced early Monday that it is teaming up with Colombian broadcaster RCN to launch Mundo Fox, a Spanish broadcast network in the U.S. that will compete against Univision and Telemundo. The announcement, made at the National Assn. of Television Program Executives conference in Miami, said the channel should debut this fall.

Details on the new channel from the News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal, which broke the story. Corp.'s Fox International Channels and RCN Television Group, a Colombian broadcaster, are teaming up to launch a Latino broadcast network in the United States.

News Corp. announced early Monday that it is teaming up with Colombian broadcaster RCN to launch Mundo Fox, a Spanish broadcast network in the U.S. that will compete against Univision and Telemundo. The announcement, made at the National Assn. of Television Program Executives conference in Miami, said the channel should debut this fall.

The new channel, dubbed MundoFox, will launch in the fall of this year. The Spanish-language channel will look to compete against Univision and the Telemundo network, both of which have big head starts. News Corp. and RCN made the announcement Monday at the National Assn. of Television Program Executives conference in Miami.

For News Corp., the push represents the growing importance of the Latino demographic in the United States. The media giant already owns Fox Deportes, a cable sports channel that caters to Spanish-speaking viewers.

“There is an increasing demand for quality Spanish-language content in the U.S. from both viewers and advertisers. Fox saw similar dynamics in play 25 years ago when it launched the Fox network, and it would be a missed opportunity not to provide an alternative for the 50+ million Latino viewers who currently have limited options in Spanish-language broadcast television," said Hernan Lopez, president and chief executive of Fox International Channels.

RCN, which already provides programming to other Latino channels in the United States, will be heavily involved in creating original content for MundoFox.

Man behind the moustache. With the last name Murdoch a little bit tarnished, News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey, known for his handlebar moustache and his no-nonsense approach to deals, has risen even higher in stature at the Rupert Murdoch-controlled media empire. The New York Times looks at Carey. The Los Angeles Times last year profiled Carey and his "everyone pays" revenue strategy.

From left, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine and Bruno Mars -- a songwriting and production team known as the Smeezingtons -- at their recording studio in Hollywood. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press

Digital "music" surges 8% world wide.Sales of music on CDs may be in free fall, but digital music revenue has been climbing steadily, jumping 8% last year, with help from strong performances by artists such as Bruno Mars, according to a report released Monday by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Digital music sales totaled $5.2 billion in 2011, up from $4.8 billion in 2010, according to the IFPI, a trade group that represents 1,400 music companies worldwide.
Although 32% of the music industry's global revenue came from digital sources, such as downloads and subscriptions to music services, some markets derived a far greater share from digital sales. In the U.S., digital music sales in 2011 surpassed sales of music in physical formats such as CDs, vinyl records and cassettes tapes, making up 52% of the industry's revenue. In South Korea, 53% of music revenue was from digital.

Bruno Mars, whose "Just The Way You Are" won him the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at last year's Grammy Awards, snagged three of the top 10 best-selling digital singles last year.

As the volume of purchased downloaded music continued to sizzle, growing 17% to 3.6 billion singles and albums last year, the subscription music business took off.

The number of paying subscribers to music services rocketed 65% to 13.4 million in 2011 from 8.2 million in 2010, the IFPI said. In Sweden, where the music streaming service Spotify is based, subscription revenue accounted for 84% of digital music revenue in the first 10 months of 2011.

The Daily Dose: With the New York Giants set to battle the New England Patriots in almost two weeks, NBC couldn't have asked for an easier Super Bowl to promote. Not only did the contenders play in a nail-biter during the regular season, they squared off in perhaps the most memorable Super Bowl ever four years ago when the Giants topped the then undefeated Patriots in a stunning upset. Last year's Super Bowl drew a record 111 million viewers: Don't be surprised if this year's tops that mark.

Senior moment. RLTV, a cable channel founded by John Erickson, who made his fortune building retirement communities, hopes to convince Hollywood and Madison Avenue that the over-50 audience is worth reaching. The network, currently in 15 million homes, hopes to double its reach in the next 12 months and has attracted some familiar faces to go in front of the camera including Joan Lunden, Deborah Norville and Florence Henderson. But persuading big cable operators and advertisers to support the channel is no easy sell. A look at RLTV from the Los Angeles Times.

Unbeatable. Sony's "Underworld: Awakening," the fourth installment of a franchise I was unaware of until three days ago, finished at the top of the box office with $25.4 million. "Red Tails," a historical film about the Tuskeegee Airmen, delivered a stronger-than-expected $19.1 million. "Haywire," which I thought would do better, took in only $9 million. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times and Movie City News.

A fine line between clever and silly. ABC's "Modern Family" is on the top of every advertiser's list when it comes to product placement. But the show's producers are very selective about the companies they do business with and how products are incorporated into the show. The fear is being seen as a shill, a perception currently plaguing CBS's "Hawaii Five-O," which took heat last week for an over-the-top placement for the Subway sandwich chain. Advertising Age examines what it takes to make the cut and get your product in the hands of the cast of "Modern Family."

Report card. Steve Burke is wrapping up his first year as chief executive of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The New York Post gives him a report card that pretty much reads incomplete and questions whether Universal Studios stays in the portfolio. My question: Where would it go?Inside the Los Angeles Times: A look at the unappreciated work of Hollywood makeup artists.

About Me

Actor, Casting Director, Director, Broadcaster, Writer, Singer, Artistic
Director, Dramatur, Producer, Professor, Coach, Husband, Grandfather, Marketing
Professional and life long student Art Lynch joined the staff of John Robert
Powers in 1999. Lynch is also an adjunct professor at the Community College of
Southern Nevada, the Morning Edition Weekend Host for Nevada Public Radio and
one of 67 individuals who represent 126,000 actors as a member of the Board of
Directors of the Screen Actors Guild. He is the past president of the Nevada
Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and of the Professional Audio/Visual Communications
Association. A resident of Nevada since 1984, Lynch has an MA in Communications
from UNLV and a BA in Theater, Speech and Mass Communications from the
University of Illinois, Chicago. He is currently pursuing post-graduate studies
in theater, education and the entertainment industry. Art Lynch studied and
practiced the craft of acting in Chicago and California before settling in
Nevada. With his wife Laura, Art owned and operated a successful marketing
company with national clientele. Art was personally responsible for casting and
directing over 1,000 commercials and industrials, as well as assisting on film
and television projects in many ways. His career also includes earning awards
as a wire service, magazine and broadcast journalist. He is most proud,
however, of his daughters. Ann is a PhD in neuroscience and Beth is the proud
mother of his grandchildren, Evan and Elijah.

Short Film Festival

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